The Karol Markowicz Show: Dominic Green on Free Speech, Western Civilization & the Fight for America’s Future

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Karol Markowicz Show – Dominic Green on Free Speech, Western Civilization & the Fight for America’s Future

Date: February 25, 2026
Host: Carol Markowitz
Guest: Dominic Green (Wall Street Journal contributor, historian, journalist, author)
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode features a candid and wide-ranging conversation between Carol Markowitz and Dominic Green, renowned columnist and author. The main focus centers on personal and professional journeys, the cultural and societal challenges facing Western civilization—especially regarding free speech—modern antisemitism, and the advice Dominic would offer listeners about engaging with classical Western culture in the digital age.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Dominic Green’s Career Journey

• From Jazz Musician to Public Intellectual

  • Dominic reflects on his unconventional path, initially following family tradition as a jazz musician, later adopting careers in academia and writing.
  • Quote: “I've had, I think, three or four careers, one after the other. One fiasco has led to the next.” (02:35 – Dominic)
  • Shifted from music due to limited opportunities and a yearning for writing; compares the transition to breaking with an addiction.
  • Quote: “I always wanted to be a writer from an early age, but I always played music. And I figured ... it's like sports, that you should do it while you have the knees and most of your hair and teeth.” (03:53 – Dominic)
  • Move to Sweden with his wife helped him reset his habits and focus deeply on writing:
    • “I would get dressed and put on a three piece suit and tie and then go to the office which was the table in the corner of the living room ... I shedded wood in Sweden for a year or so and just wrote every day pretty much round the clock.” (04:54 – Dominic)

• Academic Adventures & America’s Credentials Culture

  • Dominic describes earning a doctorate primarily to secure a place in American academia and society.
  • “Getting a doctorate, which is the most useless thing there is in the world.” (09:32 – Dominic)
  • Observes cultural differences:
    • “In England, it's like connections ... In the States, it's definitely like, this man fixed my feelings and, you know, he's really qualified.” (08:12 – Dominic)
  • Academic skepticism toward those who write for money:
    • “We're never going to employ you. You're far too right wing and you've also published.” (09:57 – Academic advice recounted by Dominic)

• Becoming a Public Intellectual

  • Inspired by advice from Ruth Weiss, Dominic embraced the role of an opinion writer and commentator:
    • “Not really. And she explained that this was somebody who basically, you know, was a professional smart ass ... That I can do.” (10:52 – Dominic)
  • Transitioned fully to journalism in his mid-40s, learning the highest standards while writing for publications like The Wall Street Journal.

The Challenge and Reward of Writing

• On Writing Books vs Columns

  • Books are likened to yachts: “...you just pour the money into the water.” (12:42 – Dominic)
  • The process is grueling and often produces little financial reward; newspaper columns are more gratifying for instant feedback.
  • “Each time I've done it, it's been from a sick, twisted inner compulsion ... you hate it, right?” (12:58 – Dominic)

• Advice for Writers

  • Most ideas can be expressed in shorter formats (columns, essays). The public’s decreasing attention span may favor the return of shorter, high-quality works.
  • “Most ideas ... should be able also to be compressed like that. So I'm hoping to write. What I mean is I'm hoping to get paid the same amount but write a much shorter book.” (13:44 – Dominic)

Personal Reflections & Parenting

• Proud Accomplishments

  • Most proud of raising three daughters to adulthood as Jewish girls through the turbulence of COVID and antisemitism.
  • “The thing I'm most proud of in my life is that my wife Maya and I got our three daughters to adulthood as Jewish girls through Covid. The madness. All of it.” (18:00 – Dominic)
  • Parenting is, for Dominic, the hardest and most rewarding job he’s had.

• Parenting Advice

  • “No, really, take advice, learn from your wife, listen to your children ... it's an ongoing lesson in the limits of intellect.” (19:00 – Dominic)
  • Emphasizes humility, resilience, and the willingness to learn from failure:
    • “Just keep failing better ... you're continually getting another chance.” (20:00 – Dominic)

The State and Future of the West

• Predictions for the Next Five Years

  • Foresees continued chaos in the US and the West, driven by major social and political realignments that occur every 80 years.
    • “The United States is going through one of its periodic every 80 years or so disputes over what kind of country it will be and who gets to run it.” (20:43 – Dominic)
  • Expects internal strife and external global shifts (notably, Asia’s return to economic centrality).
  • Nonetheless, technological advancements offer new opportunities for personal agency and freedom.

• On Being a British (and American) Jew – Free Speech & Antisemitism

  • Britain is a frontline in the fight for free speech, with looming European-style laws threatening expression online.
  • “There is a tough fight going on to defend the most basic freedoms. There's also a fight going on for Jews to remain part of British society. It's no more or less than that.” (23:27 & 24:03 – Dominic)
  • Antisemitic pressures are present in both the UK and blue-state America.
  • Calls for resilience and warns against passivity:
    • “If we are bullied into being unable to speak our minds, ... we will have only ourselves to blame. Or rather, our children and grandchildren will only have us to blame for it.” (27:41 – Dominic)

• Hope for the UK and Western Civilization

  • Sees a growing unity among the British Isles’ peoples in the face of common threats.
  • Encourages activism and speaking out—urges listeners not to despair but to engage and protect freedoms.

Final Reflections & Life Advice

• Value of "Old Stuff" (Western Civilization)
  • Advocates for embracing classic Western works in music, literature, and the arts for their enduring merit.
  • “My advice to people is don't be ashamed to be old, unfashionable, and go for quality of content. Because, you know, what we call Western Civ is one of the greatest, probably the greatest, most varied storehouse of entertainment and knowledge that's been amassed.” (28:17 – Dominic)
  • The classics contain “vitamins and nutrients” for the mind and spirit absent from much contemporary content.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Literary Ambition:
  • “Each time I've done it, it's been from a sick, twisted inner compulsion.” (12:58 – Dominic)
• On Being a Public Intellectual:
  • “She explained that this was somebody who basically, you know, was a professional smart ass ... That I can do.” (10:52 – Dominic)
• On Free Speech and Defending Western Traditions:
  • “The free speech of Britain is a national security interest of the United States. We're part of the same culture, part of the same economic, technological systems.” (23:27 – Dominic)
• On Classics vs. Modernity:
  • “Maybe with music, film, the popular arts of the 20th century, maybe you've reached a moment like that. And maybe the stuff that's being put out now is just one of those fallow periods when it's really not worth bothering with.” (28:17 – Dominic)

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Important Timestamps

• Dominic’s career path, jazz roots: 02:25–04:13
• Move to Sweden and dedication to writing: 04:54–06:03
• Publishing breakthrough (Merchant of Venice/Shylock story): 06:11–07:40
• Academic life, credentialing, and America’s culture: 08:12–10:21
• Becoming a public intellectual: 10:52–11:21
• On writing books vs columns: 12:42–13:44
• Proudest achievement—parenting and raising daughters as Jews: 18:00–18:53
• Parenting advice, humility: 19:00–20:16
• Five-year prediction, Western turmoil: 20:43–22:36
• UK/EU threat to free speech, antisemitism in UK/US: 23:21–26:59
• Optimism for the British Isles, activism: 26:28–27:48
• Advice: Quality in old works, embracing Western heritage: 28:17–29:28

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Tone & Style

• The conversation is witty and self-deprecating, full of British humor, intellectual rigor, and historical perspective.
• Both Markowitz and Green balance seriousness with warmth and personal anecdotes, creating a relatable yet insightful discussion.

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Conclusion

Dominic Green offers listeners an engaging mix of historical analysis, personal reflection, humor, and practical advice for living freely and meaningfully in a challenging era. He advocates for upholding free speech, maintaining optimism tempered with skepticism, valuing the “old stuff” of Western culture, and remaining engaged and vocal in the public sphere. The episode is a testament to resilience—personal, familial, and cultural—and the enduring importance of thoughtful engagement with the world’s intellectual heritage.

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Recommended for listeners interested in:

• Free speech debates
• Western civilization
• Journalism and writing
• Navigating contemporary challenges as minorities
• Parenting, resilience, and personal growth

Transcript

[Dominic Green]

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[Carol Markowitz]

Hi and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz show on iheartradio. My guest today is DO Dominic Green. Dominic is a Wall Street Journal contributor, Washington examiner and Jewish Chronicle columnist and a regular at Free Press and the London Telegraph. A contributing editor at the Critic, he used to edit the Spectators US edition, which is where we met. He is also the author of five books. So nice to have you on, Dominic.

[Dominic Green]

It's lovely to be here, Carol.

[Carol Markowitz]

Five books and all the rest of that.

[Dominic Green]

That just.

[Carol Markowitz]

It sounds like a lot. Do You.

[Dominic Green]

Well, if you don't have a proper job, you know, there's plenty of time.

[Carol Markowitz]

It sounds like you have like six proper jobs.

[Dominic Green]

Actually, I've had them in sequence. And I've had, I think, three or four careers, one after the other. One fiasco has led to the next.

[Carol Markowitz]

Which has been your favorite so far?

[Dominic Green]

Well, the favorite so far is the current one, and I've always tried to make sure that was the case. I worked as a musician before I turned to writing, and then I became an academic for a stretch. So great was my urge to do as little work as possible.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's right.

[Dominic Green]

And then, you know, return to writing. And I do love doing it, to be honest. I'm extremely lucky to have a job that I most days wake up and can't wait to start with. Especially because that means you finish by lunchtime.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's right, Yes, I know all about that. What kind of music did you play?

[Dominic Green]

Well, I come from a family of jazz musicians, so when I tell people this, they think that it was an act of rebellion, but actually it was deeply conformist. If it had been before the modern age, it would be completely normal to say, you know, I went into the family business. My grandfather was a cabinet maker. His grandfather was. And would you like to buy a cabinet? And it so happened that I served my apprenticeship playing jazz as my father and grandfather and brother had done.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's pretty cool. What made you leave that?

[Dominic Green]

Mainly the hours and the money. Also, there was a limit, I think, to how good I was at it. I loved it, actually, and I do. And I do love music. I always wanted to be a writer from an early age, but I always played music. And I figured that it's like sports, that you should do it while you have the knees and most of your hair and teeth.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Dominic Green]

And so I. Because it is a young man's game. And so I gave it my best, but I never thought I was. I played jazz guitar. I was under no illusions about the limits of my ability. I was a good rhythm guitar player and occasionally able to play a moderately interesting solo. And so by the time I'd kind of got to that and done it a lot, I realized in my late 20s, I thought, well, I could carry on doing this until I'm broken down old hack, which in this game will happen in about three years time, or I can then actually be serious and pursue writing, which I knew had been waiting for me. I didn't want to spend my 20s in a library, a research library. So in that sense, it was a good idea.

[Carol Markowitz]

So how did you make that leap to writing?

[Dominic Green]

Well, actually I left the country because it's like, you know, I think when people stop being alcoholics and drug addicts, the first thing they have to do is break the connection everyone they know. So my wife, newly married wife and I, she'd grown up in Sweden and I'd been there and so I thought, right, I was in London, I thought, let's go to Sweden, this is a great place to get away to. So. And I, of course I'd forgotten, of course it snows for months on end, it's freezing, you can't go outside. So I got a lot done and every morning in order to get myself into the frame of mind, I would get dressed and put on a three piece suit and tie and then go to the office which was the table in the corner of the living room. And rather like with music, wood shedding. I shedded wood in Sweden for a year or so and just wrote every day pretty much round the clock. And I was still commuting to England to play gigs and so on, but basically did that. And at the end of it, of course, I'd rendered myself unemployable in a second field and, you know, had the makings of a career and started writing.

[Carol Markowitz]

What was the big break?

[Dominic Green]

I'm still waiting for that.

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[Dominic Green]

I thought this show was, well, I

[Carol Markowitz]

have some bad news.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah, damn it, it's happened again. No, the big break I think was this. I'd always, obviously, I mean, everyone loved Shakespeare and I was as one does on a snowy afternoon in Scandinavia, leafing through a volume of the Encyclopedia Judaica. And I came across this story which seemed to connect to the background of the Merchant of Venice. And I looked into it and there's a real life story behind the Shylock character and even the elements of the plot in it. And I dug into it and no one really knew what had happened. And because it was Shakespeare, I was able to convince the publisher this was the kind of thing that they would go for. And I was able to piece together this mystery. And after that I think I could claim to have been like a serious historian rather than as a musician because musicians are always doing things like that. They tend to be very self educating and speculative people. I remember having a fascinating conversation with a group I was touring with once. We'd ended up in Rimini in Italy, which you'll know from these Fellini movies about his childhood because he's from there. And we were sitting on the beach and we had the afternoon and we had a very long conversation about who built the pyramids and whether it was the aliens or not. These are the kind of historical speculations musicians are having all the time. So anyway, because of this Shakespeare thing and it going to a respectable publisher, I was able then, I think, to sort of fob people off with the notion that I might actually be a reliable historian.

[Carol Markowitz]

That was a book.

[Dominic Green]

That was a book. And that led to another one. And then I thought, well, I.

[Carol Markowitz]

What are the names? Come on.

[Dominic Green]

Well, that was called the double life of Dr. Lopez, you know. And then I did another one. And then the agent I had in America said, well, you know, I just. We decided at that point we were going to raise a family in the States. And because I'd been there as a musician, I came back and said, this is. This is the place to be. And the agent said, well, you've got to have a credential. You've got to have a perch. And I said, what do you mean? He said, well, everyone in America's got a credential. You can't just turn up and it's not like in England. Well, yeah, no, it's true. It's true. People.

[Carol Markowitz]

I don't know about that. I think the credential matters more in the uk. Okay, we'll get into that.

[Dominic Green]

Well, this is an interesting question. I mean, I read the ones. 1 in 3 dentists in Italy had a fraudulent thing on the door saying that they had, I believe, the qualification. Right. I don't know if you've ever had dentistry in Italy. I wouldn't recommend it. I wouldn't recommend it in England either, actually, now I think about it. Although you won't have to queue in England. So in England, it's like connections. It's like, oh, I went to school with Binky and, Oh, I was at university with Monty and. Oh, he's a good chap. Write a book about Shakespeare. I think there's an element of that. Well, in the States, it's definitely like, this man fixed my feelings and, you know, he's really qualified. I recommend him. I found that when we moved to the States, people were amazing. They would. They would recommend the best person they knew for all the stuff you needed. Yeah, so we had, like, lists of, like, you know, dentists do. You know, we keep them to ourselves.

[Carol Markowitz]

We hoard them.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah, you hoard them.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's called gatekeeping.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah, that's. That's called war.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dominic Green]

Goes back a long way. So, um, anyway, so I thought I've got to get a credential. And I thought, how do you get into the United States if you don't swim? And the answer is that you go through the university system. And, and I am one of those people who, who became an American citizen thanks to, you know, getting a doctorate, which is the most useless thing there is in the world.

[Carol Markowitz]

So we're just giving out, you know.

[Dominic Green]

You weren't giving anything out, Kara. I had to pay. I paid good money for this. So, yeah, so that's, that's how it happened. And so when I was in universities, of course I thought, this is fantastic. These people work two, three days a week, they get six figure salaries, they spend half their lives in their second homes in Vermont. I'll have some of this. So I'd write academic research papers. I was very, you know, 18th century political history is fascinating stuff. So I was doing that merrily. And every now and then, you know, this is in Harvard, someone would take me aside and say something like, we're never going to employ you. You know, you're far too right wing and you've also published. And I was like, well, you know, the church, you know, accepts nuns who repent. Right? You know, that's allowed prostitutes who repent.

[Carol Markowitz]

It's fine, it'll be better, I promise.

[Dominic Green]

Right, exactly. But I said, but you, you can't accept someone who's written for money. And they were like, no, it's not good. Not a good for us, no. So, yeah, and I suppose I can say this now. I mean, the great Ruth Weiss, who was one of the very few people who bothered to give me some good advice as I floundered about, I had no idea I was new in the country, said, you know, do you know what a public intellectual is? And I was like, not really. And she explained that this was somebody who basically, you know, was a professional smart ass, if I can say that. And I was like, that I can do.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, you're like, that seems like a job for me.

[Dominic Green]

And the great thing about America, and it is a truly great thing, is that if you feed yourself into the vast machinery, it'll cough you out the other end. Having found something useful for you to do, it really does work. And it was what I'd always wanted to do in a way. My wife tells me that when we met, I'd said, you know, I want a job where I tell people I think, you know. And she said, I followed around the house for like 10 years giving her op eds, you know, off the cuff.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's Enough of that.

[Dominic Green]

And they really. And so when I actually started op edding for a living, she was greatly relieved. You know, get on with her life. And that was only 10 years ago, actually. I was in my mid-40s when I took up journalism seriously.

[Carol Markowitz]

Are you in your mid-50s?

[Dominic Green]

I am, actually. I'm 55 years old, but I have the kidneys of a 70 year old. He doesn't need them. Yeah. And I have half death from it as well, actually. This is another thing. It's. But I. Yeah, no idea. So I was a musician and then I. And then I was a kind of writer in England, and then I was an academic in the States, and then. And then I became a writer and a journalist in the States and I wasn't. I. We moved back to London about a year ago to be with our children when they're in university. And because I taught in American universities, I know what goes on. I'm not having it. You're like, no, it's a total scam. Don't be fooled. And when I get back here, of course, I meet all my peers in the British media and they're terrible. They had terrible hacks. So I was made into a journalist in America and I'm very pleased. I was, because there are actually high standards places like the Wall Street Journal, where I learned the craft of it. They are impeccable and devoted.

[Carol Markowitz]

This is a very fascinating story. So what's next?

[Dominic Green]

I had to live it, Gara.

[Carol Markowitz]

I can tell you I'm enjoying it very much. I'm enjoying the retelling of you living it.

[Dominic Green]

Right.

[Carol Markowitz]

What comes next?

[Dominic Green]

Well, you know, I'm hoping that I can afford to write another book because it is like having a yacht. You know, you just pour the money into the water.

[Carol Markowitz]

I'm surprised that people want to do more than one. I've written one book. I think it is my final book. It did very well, but I never need to do that again.

[Dominic Green]

Each time I've done it, it's been from a sick, twisted inner compulsion.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yes.

[Dominic Green]

So, I mean, you know, I wait till it happens. I mean, because it is. It's a grueling, awful process and it eats your life up. And, you know, I worked out that the last one, which on the north, took about three years of labor, I think it came in at about 15 cents a word, you know, by the time I'd talked about it and promoted it and so on. So it is a labor of love. Except, of course, you hate it, right?

[Carol Markowitz]

Yes. Yeah.

[Dominic Green]

I mean, but it's a privilege.

[Carol Markowitz]

You could write 700 words and have it be in the newspaper tomorrow and that's, you know, the end of that. That's so much more gratifying.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah. And I have to say, I think most ideas could be put into 7, 800 words into a column. There's no, you know, we think that there has to be a 60,000 or

[Carol Markowitz]

even a tweet, you know.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah. People used. I mean, I'm a bit of a Victorian, as you can probably tell from the background, but the Victorians went into these things where they'd like, I'm going to write a short essay and they'd knock out 30,000 words. And that's the equivalent of a mini book, like those little books you find on the table in the bookstore. And I'm pleased to see that they're coming back as people are losing their attention span and can't hold it together to read, you know, 300 pages. Because most ideas, related books should be able also to be compressed like that. So I'm hoping to write. What I mean is I'm hoping to get paid the same amount but write a much shorter book.

[Carol Markowitz]

I like that idea a lot. Actually. I only wrote half a book because I had a co author. That's another thing you should maybe consider then you only have to write, you know, half.

[Dominic Green]

Do you write the front end or the back? Is it like being a pantomime horse?

[Carol Markowitz]

It actually is. We switched off chapters, so that's good.

[Dominic Green]

It's been done before. You know, Joseph Conrad did that with Ford Maddox Ford in fiction and it worked. Not that you were writing fiction. I know it was real.

[Carol Markowitz]

No. Yes. Yes, but no, I, you know, highly recommend 50% of the work for 100% of the pay.

[Dominic Green]

You know, I'm willing to do that. Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

We're going to take a quick break and be right back on the Carol Markowitz show.

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[Carol Markowitz]

What is the thing that you're most proud of in your life?

[Dominic Green]

The thing I'm most proud of in my life is that my wife Maya and I got our three daughters to adulthood as Jewish girls through Covid. The madness. All of it. And that they turned out fantastically. I'm sure a lot of people on your show say this, at least all of them who wish to stay married probably say it, but that genuinely is one of the very few things I'm proud of. I'm not proud of much. I don't think it's difficult to knock out a few hundred words or say something. I mean, most of what I write is mocking politicians, which is, of course, like field clubbing. It's hardly, you know, arduous. It's pretty challenging.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Dominic Green]

But being a dad, especially to girls, having grown up in a house of boys, being a dad was, you know, the hardest and obviously the most rewarding and meaningful thing I've ever done. So not having totally bungled it is the thing I'm most proud of.

[Carol Markowitz]

So what's your tip on that? How do you not totally bungle it to its health? That's not bad.

[Dominic Green]

No, really, take advice, learn from your wife, listen to your children. I mean, I struggle to listen to anybody. I'm a lecturer, aren't I? But it's an ongoing lesson in the limits of intellect. Because having intellect is commercially useful and valued and being a specialist is how people get on. But there are basic emotional things which are totally different and require a very different way of understanding people and what your purpose in life is. So having some. Have some humility, as people frequently say. To me, that's. That's the only. I don't know if I've done it. You have to ask them how well I've done it. But the fact that you're telling me

[Carol Markowitz]

you did it well, so, you know, we want to know how. How you did it.

[Dominic Green]

I tried to make it fun.

[Carol Markowitz]

My eldest is going to be 16 tomorrow, so I. There, you know, there's still in development. Any, you know, tips are always welcome.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah, I don't know. I'm just. Just keep failing better. I mean, you know, if there is a wider lesson as well, I mean, you know, keep failing better is one. Because you try and try and sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. But the next day you're continually, you

[Carol Markowitz]

know, getting another chance, giving another shot.

[Dominic Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not giving up, I think, is, you know, I don't think I have that many life lessons through. I think most of my life's been a terrible warning, you know, not giving up. I mean, all those lines about the cliches. It doesn't matter whether you get knocked down, it's how fast you're back on your feet and all of that. Those things actually are the true things. The race belongs not to the Swift.

[Mint Mobile Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

Give us a five year out prediction and it could be about anything at all.

[Dominic Green]

Well, we are. I mean, I could say the world. I could start with the world. We're in a colossal shift and the next five years will be more chaos. The United States is going through one of its periodic every 80 years or so disputes over what kind of country it will be and who gets to run it.

[Carol Markowitz]

Is that every eight years?

[Dominic Green]

80. Every 80.

[Carol Markowitz]

I think it's every eight. At this point.

[Dominic Green]

It's every 10 minutes. No. From the revolutionary year to the Civil War, to the remaking under FDR with the New Deal and the war production that reshaped the economy, and then to the crisis of post 2008 and particularly 2016America and the struggle which is going on now to redefine it. So in many ways, despite parenting, there are very good days and very bad days. But that's going to continue because we haven't reached a settlement over who gets to own it. And the truth is, much as we love democracy, the winner takes all in this kind of thing, whoever wins is going to drive their rivals out over the Potomac and into the wilds. And that hasn't yet happened. And it may yet swing back and forth for a while. So internally, the chaos will continue. See, as a historian, there's never any good news. Externally it will as well because there is this colossal shift, the return of Asia as the center of the world economy for the first time in 200 years. So, you know, that's the bad news.

[Carol Markowitz]

Okay.

[Dominic Green]

The good news is that we remain free to shape our lives much as we always were. And the technology which is turning things upside down also gives us opportunities to do things that previously were impossible. I, for instance, can sit on my backside in a holiday resort and file copy from beneath the palm trees. This wasn't possible in the old days at all. So in some sense, you know, we live in an age of miracles and an age of idiots. And I suspect that is always how it's been. Personally, in the next five years, I just hope to stay, you know, on the vertical axis.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Dominic Green]

So every day is a blessing.

[Carol Markowitz]

Is that some I hear?

[Dominic Green]

Yeah, I am. I'm a skeptical optimist.

[Carol Markowitz]

A skeptical optimist. Yeah, yeah, that just British.

[Dominic Green]

It doesn't help. I mean, well, as a British Jew, I have a double dose of, you know, pessimism is like inevitable twice over. But no, I generally wake up with the spring in my. Well, I don't actually. I wake up in a foul mood until I've had an entire pot of tea. But generally I, you know, whiffle while I work. I feel there's a lot to be grateful for. And as I said, as long as we have a sense that we can make an impact and shape our lives for the better, then, you know, that's good.

[Carol Markowitz]

How do you feel about being a British Jew? And I know this wasn't, you know, this isn't a political show. I just.

[Dominic Green]

Well, I'm a British American Jew, actually. I've got many hats.

[Carol Markowitz]

How's that going for you?

[Dominic Green]

How's that working out? Well, I mean, Britain at the moment is coming apart, you know, and I was talking with someone who worked at a big technology company who was passing through London a couple of weeks ago, and he said, well, you're on the front line here. And it's true, the front line of the battle for free speech is going on in Britain because the type of legal regime which is coming in in Europe is designed, and we're seeing it is designed to suppress free speech, especially online. And there's only 20 miles between, you know, England and France, and that is the frontier. And to my mind, and also I believe to many people in the Trump administration, the free speech of Britain is a national security interest of the United States. We're part of the same culture, part of the same economic, technological systems. So there's that, you know, there is a tough fight going on to defend the most basic freedoms. There's also a fight going on for Jews to remain part of British society. It's no more or less than that. And to be honest, I saw it in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just as much as I see it in London. There is a, you know, a coordinated pressure coming from left wing groups and Muslims, in effect, who don't want Jews to have any kind of expression or influence or equality in their society. And you see it very, you know, it's worse in France, but you see it very explicitly in blue state America, just as we see it in London. My feeling is when people ask and, you know, they say, is it like I see on X or Twitter? Yeah, and it is actually. Yeah, but it's also more than that. You know, no one sends, Here's a lovely clip of nothing happening. Here's a shot of me walking into shill undisturbed. That's not how it works. That's right, it is bad, but it's the same, actually. You know, in Boston, I used to do security duty outside the synagogue, you know, while my children were inside. And In London, the same occurs. So it's one thing about the world that we now live in, for good or bad, it's much the same everywhere in that sense, at the end of 30 years of the biggest population movements in human history, it happens everywhere. So the other question they say, is England done? And I say to them, I hope that. No, I don't think it is. I think we're only now getting, without sounding Churchillian. And it is the law that everyone from Britain eventually sounds Churchillian. Right?

[Carol Markowitz]

It is right, yeah.

[Dominic Green]

We are only at the end of the beginning as regards the struggle for the future of Britain. And the beginning of the end is some way off yet. And I don't think that the English will consent to being turned out of their own country, which in effect is what this will mean. And I don't think Americans will either. I don't think even the French will.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, I'm rooting for you in England. I'm rooting for the English and the Scottish. I lived in Scotland for a period of time. I love the uk. I hope that things end up in a more positive direction.

[Dominic Green]

I hope they do as well.

[Carol Markowitz]

I like your commentary on it. I feel like it is very optimistic.

[Dominic Green]

Well, I feel one of the good things that's come out of this, which hasn't really been spoken about enough, is that the people's plural, or the British Isles plural, are understanding that they do actually have more in common than divides them because the norm is that the Scots hate the English and the English hate the Irish and the Irish hate the. It just goes round and round and round when in fact we're like 80, more than 85, 90 million people in a tiny space, England itself.

[Carol Markowitz]

I think they don't all unite to hate the Jews. I think.

[Dominic Green]

No, I don't think they do. I don't think they will. They've got more pressing problems. But, you know, England is the size of New York State with a lot more people in it. And so there is a positive understanding as well developing because people's understanding of themselves develops anyway, regardless, you can't fix it. It's always moving in that way. So don't despair. But then again, don't be totally passive as well, is my message. And I think this goes for my fellow American as much as my fellow Brits. If you don't like it, do something, change something, and most of all, say something. Because if we are bullied into being unable to speak our minds, and we have the total right to reasonably speak our minds to anyone about anything, if we are bullied into silence, then we will have only ourselves to blame. Or rather, our children and grandchildren will only have us to blame for it.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. I have loved this conversation. Dominic, thank you so much for coming on the show.

[Lenovo Ad Voice]

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[Carol Markowitz]

Leave us here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.

[Dominic Green]

Well, old stuff, I would say. For a long time, you know, we associated technological progress in particular, with having a better life. Actually, it turns out that's not true. Nobody says, why should I listen to Beethoven? Because he died 200 years. Well, actually, people do, and they're. And they're completely stupid.

[Carol Markowitz]

Sure.

[Dominic Green]

You know, apart from the complete idiots we listen to Beethoven, Mozart, because they're great. They really nailed it. Right? That's it. You don't say Shakespeare, Dickens, you know, I mean, you don't anymore. Yeah, right, exactly. So maybe with music, film, the popular arts of the 20th century, maybe you've reached a moment like that. And maybe the stuff that's being put out now is just one of those fallow periods when it's really not worth bothering with. If you have three or four hours, rather than reading a kind of trendy literary fiction novel, find something old and read that because there will be vitamins and nutrients in it. So my advice to people is don't be ashamed to be old, unfashionable, and go for quality of content. Because, you know, what we call Western Civ is one of the greatest, probably the greatest, most varied storehouse of entertainment and knowledge that's been amassed. And it's a great privilege, if you're in a position, like me, that you can spend your days digging around in it and talking about it to people. So that's what I would say to people, is, you know, embrace the depths and the heights of the civilization you've been lucky enough to be born into, because it's yours. And if you don't do that again, what are you going to pass on your DVD collection of friends? I mean, you know, what else is there?

[Carol Markowitz]

I love it. Go back to basics. He is Dominic Green. Check him out in the Wall Street Journal. Thank you so much, Dominic, for coming on.

[Dominic Green]

Thank you, Carol.

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[Dominic Green]

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[Dominic Green]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.